


Zenith

by hamstercheese7, zipcodeman



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Androids, Audio Content, Celebrations, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, One Piece Admirals Week 2020, Outer Space, Science Fiction, Space Stations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:22:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26552047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hamstercheese7/pseuds/hamstercheese7, https://archiveofourown.org/users/zipcodeman/pseuds/zipcodeman
Summary: Day 6: Sci-fi AUWatching the sunrise is romantic, whether you are human or not.Written for One Piece Admirals Week 2020.Made an audio version of this fic as well, link inside.
Relationships: Aokiji | Kuzan/Smoker
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6
Collections: One Piece Admirals Week 2020





	Zenith

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Day 6 of One Piece Admirals Week 2020, prompt Sci-fi AU.  
> Zipcodeman helped me make this into a podfic! Check it out [here](https://soundcloud.com/ham-stercheese-the-77th/one-piece-podfic-zenith-hamstercheese7-1)!

The asteroid slowly began to maneuver into the proper position, the forcegrid unfolding as the massive interlocking metal doors pulled back, allowing the starlight in. The once-a-year event was beginning to take shape. The crowd was gathering below, in the middle of the colony plaza that stretched around the spherical interior, sitting on the grass and among the biogenerators, their leaves beginning to angle towards the view of the vacuum of space. Visors folded down to protect their human faces from the sudden influx of UV Rays, their biosuits opening their photovoltaic panels for energy absorption. 

This was the most important day of the year for Base Q44S19, as this was the day the colony would complete its rotation around Mariejois and enter its secondary asteroid belt, The Grand Line. This was the day the generators and photovoltaic panels would collect the most energy for the next year. For the humans in the colony, it was also the only day of the year that they would witness true sunlight instead of the artificial sunlight that sustained the colony for the rest of the rotation.

Thus, the humans considered it a holiday. 

Kuzan planted his feet on the docking station, the magnets on the bottom catching and holding, keeping him on the outer surface of the asteroid. He had just finished his task of recalibrating the debris collection field, and now had some time to kill. He turned and settled his limbs into a leaning position on the railing, observing the corona of Perseius 1 begin to come into view from around the flank of Mariejois. 

A blip in his viewfield made him turn his head, catching sight of his secondary, Smoker, approaching. His white hair was brighter in the burgeoning rays of the sun. Kuzan pinged him a greeting as he came to stand next to him. He quickly scanned through the Logs, confirming that Smoker had completed aligning the railguns on the starboard flank of the base. 

He crossed his arms and stared out into the vast endlessness of space as Kuzan smiled at him. He preferred to work with Smoker over other androids, as Smoker too appeared to have behavior subroutines that mimicked human habits, unlike the majority of droids delivered from Mariejois. Then again, the two of them were designed to better interface with the human population, and thus required deeper neural training than the average droid. 

-No indicators of pirates for 300 clics.- Smoker informed him wordlessly. He nodded, confirming. He had an automatic feed that told him the same information. 

-You planning on joining the festivities, Smoker?- he responded. Smoker’s eyes flicked to him, then back forward. 

-No, human parties annoy my processors.- he replied. Kuzan raised an eyebrow at him. Did they now? He wondered what subroutines Smoker contained. It wasn’t the first time he had been curious. While he could ask, it was considered...the human equivalent of rude, or intimate to look through another’s programming. 

-You don’t do anything to celebrate Rotation Day?- he asked. Most droids did not participate in human rituals, but some did, like him. It was easier to work with humans when he seemed so much like one, and he liked to think that he enjoyed the process. 

-I did not say that.- Smoker too leaned on the railing. Kuzan tilted his head. They were in close proximity due to the size of the platform. The ice embedded and pockmarked surface of the asteroid spread out before them, the corona flaring brighter, illuminating more of the massive asteroid belt they drifted in. 

-Oh?- Kuzan focused his attention on Smoker after quickly checking through the indicator logs. Still no trouble, all defense mechanisms running smoothly. 

-I was going to watch the Zenith from here.- Smoker gestured towards the rise of Perseius 1, the star at the center of this system, a frivolous human gesture that Kuzan found endearing. Yes, he did prefer Smoker’s methods of communication, the added behaviors, the reflection of human emotions in their neural network. Maybe he could ask, this was supposed to be a celebration after all. Many of the humans onboard their celestial traveler worshiped Zenith Day as a return to pagan fertility rituals of old, he found as he scrolled quickly through the millions of written materials on the subject matter posted to the Net. 

-Would you mind some company?- he asked. Mariejois glittered massive blue and red above them, the starlight now reflecting off the oceans and red iron of the continents. Soon the sheer blinding light of Perseius 1 would block out the color of the planet until they passed the zenith. It would be a sight to behold. 

Smoker turned to look at him this time and their eyes met, Smoker’s an unusual shade of brown for a human, but normal for an android. And perhaps he was too forward, by human standards, but Kuzan reached for the back of his neck, opening the panel there and pulling out his high speed communication tether. He held it out in a gesture of suggestion. 

Smoker stared at him, before responding with -...No I wouldn’t mind.- in the application, before carefully pulling out his own tether. Kuzan smiled, glad he asked. He wasn’t solitary in his appreciation of the other it appeared.

They jacked in, standing shoulder to shoulder now, their inner processes laid out before the other. Command nodes, human emotion models, communication logs. All the little experiences and heuristics they had picked up in their time since activation. Unlike humans, androids could share all of themselves with one another, their whole Being laid before the eyes of another. It was perhaps their greatest advantage and their greatest weakness.

He watched Smoker scroll through his history with the Planetary Alliance as an Extermination Unit, before his damage required new Ethics patches. A life completely different from the one he lead now, and his primary reason for his extensive downloaded log of human alcohols. He looked through Smoker’s selected log of the ancient practice of human cigar making and modern day applications, an unusual thing, perhaps something his template human had enjoyed. It also appeared that Smoker was originally programmed to be stationed on Human Colony ships, specifically as a nurture droid. It made sense why he was placed on a Neighborhood Base afterwards. 

It was intimate, Kuzan registered that Smoker had not shared his Core with another in a long time. To connect with someone was dangerous, as oftentimes, it was the easiest way to embed unwanted new subroutines in the mind of the other.

The deep gray of the asteroid's surface grew brighter in intensity, the star more than halfway risen, the thrusters on Base Q44S19 firing, turning towards and into the gravitational field of the Grand Line Belt. Kuzan’s protective coating against UV radiation on his lower legs activated, reflecting the light away from him. Smoker’s white hair glowed brightly, his own UV reflectors kicking in. 

They turned to watch the beginning of the Zenith, the massive star overtaking everything, bright and all encompassing, like witnessing an act of divine appearance after such a long time in the shadow of Mariejois. His visual receptors informed him of radiation levels, the suspected surface temperature of the star, the distance between their Base Ship and the sun, and that still there were no indicators of trouble approaching. Smoker was doing the same thing, the two of them doing the same process at the same time, feeding back and forth into one another. 

He wondered if Smoker contained the same gesture and behavior logs that he did, and turned towards him as he searched. No, he did not. But that...that could be changed, just to add one behavior that he found to be his favorite of human behaviors. Trading code was precious, dangerous, special; an indicator of trust or preference. He posited the question of whether he could add the background process to Smoker’s subsystem by triggering the appropriate file transfer request. They were looking at each other now. 

It was funny, if they weren’t in the exposed environment of space, they would look just like two humans. He waited for Smoker to grant him super user access, wondering if he would. Smoker’s eyes flicked away from his, and he looked down and away for a moment, a human gesture of shyness before unlocking, allowing Kuzan to input code. 

It took but a few moments before he transferred the process. Now Smoker would have a piece of him forever, unless he chose to erase it.

Kuzan smiled, their faces just inches apart now, and activated the behavior he’d just given to Smoker, leaning in, and pressing their lips together. Smoker matched him as the Sun reached its height and their whole existence vanished under the glow, leaving just them and their internal processes connecting and touching.

**Author's Note:**

> I have never written Sci-Fi before, but I have read a whole lot of it! I absolutely loved writing this piece! It was so fun to just...make things up and actually use my real world knowledge of tech and programming to come up with stuff! I am now planning on doing a long sci-fi AU fic, because this really really kicked my imagination into gear! Keep an eye out for it!
> 
> This was written for Admiral Week 2020, thanks to the folks on the server for all their help!
> 
> Let me know your thoughts!
> 
> As always, thank you for reading and you can find me on twitter @buggyisbest


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